Director: Jeff Nichols Run Time: 116 min. Rating: R Release Year: 2023
Starring: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Tom Hardy
Country: United States
Language: English
About the film:
World Premiere, 2023 Telluride Film Festival
Kathy, a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a reckless bike rider named Benny, recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny.
Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny, and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
“the ‘Godfather’ of Biker Movies… It goes a long way to humanize figures who’ve been long misrepresented on film, while giving audiences privileged access to this inner world.”
—Peter Debruge, Variety
Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, The Bikeriders (2024) immerses you in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders.
About the filmmaker:
Jeff Nichols is an American filmmaker from Little Rock, Arkansas who made a name for himself in the independent film world with a pair of small, haunting, Southern-set films that drew nearly universal critical acclaim. Nichols’ first feature film, the Southern Gothic revenge tale Shotgun Stories (2007), garnered some buzz on the indie festival circuit, setting the stage for an even more auspicious greeting for his sophomore project, the apocalyptically-tinged Take Shelter (2011), which stunned the film world by garnering laurels at the Cannes Film Festival. His most recent feature film, The Bikeriders (2024) premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival, and was primarily filmed in Cincinnati, Ohio.
